Are today’s mobile phones too smart for their own good?
Perhaps so.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project survey results released today, only 25% of cell phone users who have installed “Apps” on their phones actually use them. Perhaps even more interestingly, a fair number of the nearly 2000 respondents were not even sure if their phones supported app installs or not.
The PIALP says 82 percent of U.S. adults own cellphones, but only 35 percent of those people have apps on their phone. Even fewer, 24 percent, actually use the apps they have, and 11 percent aren’t even sure whether their phones have apps in the first place. The study defines U.S. adults as anyone 18 years of age or older.
These findings are apparently the complete opposite of other recent opinions published that suggest, “The Web is Dead” or that “within five years global internet consumption on mobile devices will surpass the same activity on PCs”. It may be that these predictions will play out over time. However, the current trends might suggest we still have a bit of time left to wait and see.
The survey results includes findings from two distinct studies: a Pew Internet telephone survey of 2,252 U.S. adults age 18 and older, conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between April 29 and May 30, 2010; and Nielsen data from an analysis of 3,962 adults (age 18+) gathered in the December 2009 Apps Playbook.
Photo credit: @adedip via Flickr
